Lisa – The Roggie-Blog

November 2024

It’s been nearly a year since I’ve blogged! A YEAR! Where did that time go?

You know how you feel when you have one of THOSE months! The ones that annoy you, thrill you, cause you immense anticipation, disappoint you, exhilarate you and test you to the highest degree! That’s November 2024!

I thought I was immune to THOSE months, because I reached menopause and, quite frankly, anything goes in menopause. Things just don’t surprise you anymore. But, I was surprised!

Today is November 10th and we haven’t yet switched on our heat – new record! I’m still in t-shirts, my garden is still growing, the cats have not yet puffed up their winter coats, and Greg is not complaining about the cold…yet! I don’t really know what to do with myself.

I spent a good part of the year working on organizing LinFest, our neighbourhood association’s Fall Festival. It was my 6^th one (and my last) and it was successful, but very different to organize this year. Lots of highs and lows, frustrations and jubilations. During July, August, September and October I was at my peak of stress, and besides LinFest, had many other obligations and responsibilities. I got it all done, but everything suffered – specifically, me! We talk a lot about mental health these days, and my mental health was not healthy – I’m still working on it. I was taught the notion of “chin up and suck it up”. Enough is enough. I’m not a doormat!

Since the pandemic hit in 2020 and I lost my job, I have not looked for a new one. I discovered that my once love of working with people and calling myself a “people person” has changed drastically. I don’t want to work with people, I don’t want to be around people, people annoy me and cause me stress and anger. I no longer like people. There, I said it! People have lost their sense of reality and tolerance. People buy into every opportunist promise. People are like lemmings and follow the most bizarre ideas and theologies. What happened to common sense? We now have a buzz word and excuse for every issue. People are selfish, greedy, rude, immoral, and self-serving. People don’t listen. People are too busy.

I am learning how to say “no” and “not now” and “leave me alone”. I’m not good at it, but for my health and sanity I need to perfect it. America is so different to other countries and cultures. They claim to be a melting pot of immigrants, and yet, they hate immigrants. They’re interested in them, but don’t really want them. It’s hard to be a foreigner in a mildly modern world. Words like “patriotism” are used a lot, but not always used correctly, and it has different meanings and feelings for different people. I live in Missouri, nicknamed the “Show-Me State”. Missourian’s want proof. Don’t tell me, show me! Prove it! Not a bad slogan, but it can make you feel like you’re being yelled at. Am I easily offended by it? No, not at all. I’m tougher than that, but not everyone is, and it would be nice to see some softness and consideration for those who need it. Also, if you want me to show you and prove things to you, and I do, then accept it and believe it, else why would I bother? You can’t demand proof of something and then reject it when it’s given to you. Just because it doesn’t fit into your thought process does not mean it’s wrong. What it does mean is that you need to give it some thought.

Fortunately, there are blogs where people can express their feelings and thoughts, like I am doing right now. They are MY thoughts and feelings, shared by MY experiences. You may not share those thoughts and feelings, and that’s ok, but I’d ask that you respect mine, just as I respect yours.

For the rest of the year, I will try and not be so overwhelmed by life and what it throws at me. I will continue to trust in God and learn about His purpose for my life. If you get antagonistic towards me, I will walk away, not because I’m afraid, but because you are adding more stress to my already stressful life. I feel like we would all be healthier and calmer if more of us did that.

2023 in a Nutshell

It’s time to look back at 2023! The good, the bad and the ugly – and we had it all.

January was all about the cats! We lost Sylvester on January 19th and we thought that our hearts would break. It was a very rough time for us adjusting to being a 2-cat family. Almost a year later and we’re still not over it, but we have awesome memories of that little snickerdoodle! Having older cats is difficult, especially when illnesses start creeping in.

February, we celebrated Greg and Bear’s birthdays! That meant baking the giant German Chocolate cake for the umpteenth time! More technology for Greg and we were also VERY late in taking down our outside Christmas lights! Yes, we were THOSE people this year!

March had me trying to relearn crocheting. I got a step-by-step online crochet pattern and tried to learn how to make a tiny penguin. I got lost and it’s still in a bag somewhere in the spare room! Maybe I’ll take it up again sometime… We decided to have railings installed on our newly formed front porch and all the stuff was delivered while we waited for the work to be done. I helped a friend move out of her apartment. Also started thinking about my garden and what I was going to plant this year and did a bit of early spring weeding, although the ground was still pretty hard.

April our oven quit, and we had to buy a new one. There was that embarrassing moment when they pulled out the old one and I had to clean behind it – a tremendous amount of dirt, dust balls, cat toys, grime and grit! How embarrassing! But, the new oven works well and we’re happy with it. I tackled the penguin again but didn’t get much further. It was Lent so that meant making hot cross buns – yum! Got some more weeding done and slowly tackled a few more beds and got my fairy/gnome garden out. Then, in early April, Greg was out taking his laundry to the office and doing his usual exercising by walking around the park, and on his way home he wasn’t concentrating properly and slammed into a road sign, cutting open his head. When he got home, he was covered in blood, freaking me out, so we rushed to Urgent Care where they cleaned him up and he got 14 staples in his head. That meant he was thenceforth called “Zipper-Head”! He’s since healed up perfectly well. Just after that little incident, we had a wonderful visit from Greg’s mom and sister. This was the first time his mom had been to St. Louis, so I immediately embarked on a very rushed and busy tourist trip around the city. It was so lovely to have them here and I hope they come and visit again next year!! (hint-hint). I think the highlight was the Botanical Gardens and watching mom play in the kids’ section of the History Museum (I have photos as proof!). I think Cindy’s favourite was IKEA! (What’s not to like!!). We also went downtown and went up the Gateway Arch, saw the Mississippi and walked a lot around Forest Park and ate a lot of ice cream! The week after they left, I tried to outdo Greg and accidentally fell off our front porch. I just lost my footing as I was putting the chair cushions back out after a rainstorm. I spun off the steps and landed on the concrete, breaking my glasses and cutting my head open. Another trip to Urgent Care! Greg came with me and while they were cleaning me up and I was getting x-rays and a CT scan, Greg had his staples removed. I also had no lasting issues except that we both have a bit of a scar. I see a lot of bubble wrap in our future! This resulted in me getting onto our contractor and insisting that the railings get installed asap. April/May is also the worst allergy time in St. Louis as everything is pollenating. The railing posts were sunk into the ground and concreted in and the cracks made from the jackhammering were repaired.

Late April and early May I got some plants and veggies planted. It was nice to see some colour in the garden again. King Charles had his coronation, and I was up early with my pot of tea watching it and getting into the spirit of it. I AM British so I felt like I needed to take a bit of an interest. May was the perfect month to sit on the front porch with a good book and a cuppa tea before the summer heat got me. I spent a lot of time gardening and watching my garden go from dirt to budding plants. It always fascinates me how a simple seed can turn into something edible! Our railings finally were installed, and we were very happy with them. It totally changed the look of the front of our house. At first it felt a bit confining as it made the porch feel so much smaller, but we are totally used to it now and have made it our own and we love it. May also saw the start of our neighbourhood association events. We kicked it off with the flea market and our first concert of the year. Both huge successes. I was able to finally get rid of 3-4 years’ worth of donated items to our flea market. Covid stopped us from holding our flea market and I was keeping a few things for people to be donated – then a few more things, and before long I had a room full of items. It was great to get rid of them and get my room back! We also fired our garden service and bought a battery-operated lawn mower, weed whacker and leaf blower. If you want something done properly, do it yourself! Our lawn looked much better! Greg put up a couple of shelves for me in the living room and that made a nice difference. At the end of May I reaped my first zucchini and a few other spring veggies, and Greg was happy to braai his first corn of the season. I also helped a friend move again!

June saw us utilizing the front porch a lot. The front of our house gets more shade than the back, so that has become my little oasis. Even Greg seemed to prefer it even though he loves the heat and sun, whereas I hate it. More gardening and weeding and lawn cutting. We had someone come over to quote us on converting a basement storage room into a type of giant linen cupboard – something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The quote was acceptable, and we signed the docs! We also had an addition to our family and Greg’s nephew’s girlfriend gave birth to little Autumn rather early, but all is well. Then, the start of the great sewer debacle happened. We had a backup in our drainage system, and we were unable to use the washer for a while. I spent every other day at the laundromat doing Greg’s laundry for his business. There were a lot of sheets that needed to be washed regularly and it cost an absolute fortune to do. We called a plumbing company in to sort it out and it just escalated into a massive project that eventually involved jackhammering up half of our basement and replacing all the sewer pipes and lining one of them. We had multiple cameras scoping out the pipes and different results from most of them. The first company did a botched job which the second company had to fix (twice) but they managed to make it right several months later. Also, it was hot! Very hot! We also had our second neighbourhood concert in the park.

In July we made our annual pilgrimage to Phelps, WI to see Greg’s family. It’s never without incident and after leaving very early in the morning when it was still dark, we started our 12-hour drive north. About 2 hours into the trip there was an accident with debris all over the highway. I didn’t have time or ability to swerve, and we hit some of the debris resulting in a flat tyre. We pulled over the side of the road and almost straight away, a highway patrolman stopped to help us. He changed our tyre for us, and we hobbled to the nearest place to get it replaced. It was a holiday weekend and a very small town so naturally they didn’t have staff, nor did they have our size tyre (it’s a farming community so they mostly only had truck tyres). So, we hobbled further to a bigger town and after another couple of tries, finally found a place to replace it for us, after a couple of hours’ wait. We knew this would extend our trip time and we hadn’t yet made it to Greg’s brother to pick him up. All was ok for the rest of the trip, and we had a lovely visit with Greg’s mom. No snow (lol), so I managed to get up the driveway’s hill with no problem. We celebrated mom’s birthday, went downtown to their little July 4th parade, met one of Greg’s old friends and met little Autumn. Our niece also visited on her new UTE and she took me for a drive! Fun!! Let’s do that again in 2024!! The trip home was uneventful. Greg finally got his inflatable pool out and spent a couple of hot days in it listening to our hometown baseball team’s games. More filthy, loud work in our basement. I had to postpone the storage room conversion to September due to the sewer work. Our poor cats were not impressed with all the noise and dust either. The first sewer company made a horrible mess of our basement, connected the wrong sized pipes and did a hack job of concreting. A second company was called in to fix it, only to discover that they’d installed the pipes backwards. This was all inspected via a permit from the City! The second company redid their work and dug up everything else and replaced all the pipes and took much better care of our property. They kept the dust to a minimum and cleaned up every day after they were finished and made sure our water was reconnected when they left. It was pointless for me to try and clean while they were here, so our basement just became a hive of filth for 2 more months. I got my first harvest of tomatoes and banana peppers! My sunflowers grew and my garden started looking rather lush. We had one huge rainstorm resulting in some huge flooding in the back yard. We hadn’t had much rain until then, so the garden soaked it up and the giant lake in the back yard sunk quickly. It was impressive to see though! At the end of July, we had our neighbourhood association trivia night – almost!! Due to the big storm, we had no power at the event so that meant no lights but more importantly, no air conditioning!! We had to postpone it for a week and get all our stuff together again a week later!

August started with our Trivia night: same place, same group of people and this time, with power! We totally sucked at Trivia, but we did win the best table decorations. Yay us! We have to be good at something! Trivia is always a fun night. We had another concert in the park which was very hot and not as well attended but still a big success. I helped a friend move into her new apartment. Our basement sewer work was completed, and I spent a very long time cleaning and getting things mostly back together. We needed to replace the flooring as parts of the carpets was destroyed so we got a quote for vinyl plank flooring and gave them the go-ahead to order it. I washed walls, ceilings and furniture multiple times and the dust just kept coming back as it settled. It was a huge and never-ending job. I’m still finding areas that I missed. One of our neighbour’s went on vacation and a neighbour and I enjoyed taking care of their chickens for a week. I am rather afraid of birds of all kinds so this was a bit of a “face-my-fears” week. I did fine and they were fun to watch and easy to take care of. The eggs made it worthwhile too. Greg hired someone to paint his office. It hadn’t been painted in quite a few years and desperately needed to be spruced up. He also bought a new rug for it and the room looks lovely again! Greg and I celebrated our 20th anniversary, Aggie celebrated her 16th birthday, and we had a lovely visit from Greg’s mom’s neighbour’s and did a few touristy things with them, ending with another successful concert in the park on Labour Day weekend!

September is my birthday month as well at Rugby World Cup month! This time we were able to get the games and they were shown at respectable times. I watched a lot of rugby and yelled my lungs out for the South African Springboks! A friend and I went to the Mandela exhibit at the Science Center, which was excellent. We finally got our basement flooring mostly finished after about a week of work and that meant that I had to re-clean the entire basement again. It was exhausting, but it is done, and it looks lovely. My sweet neighbour put an offer on the house she’d been renting, and it was accepted and finalized! We were so delighted that we don’t have to train up a new neighbour!! AND I still get to play with her awesome dog! Win-win!

In October we bought a new rug for the basement living room and that finished off the basement. It’s such a great feeling to be finally done! We also hosted our first National Night Out block party. I was a little apprehensive that not many people would show up, but we had a great turn out and it was such a fun night getting to know more people on our block and reconnecting with people we already knew. Our basement flooring project finally got completed. They’d had to order extra planks as they didn’t have enough to finish. The day they finished, the closet company came in, and in several hours, the storage room was transformed into a closet and it looks fantastic! It only took me a day to get it all sorted out and I’m very happy with it. It was still hot and my garden was still producing veggies although slowing down. We bought some solar lights for our front porch railing posts and they look great. We got our latest Covid booster so feel nicely protected for the Winter. Our neighbours across from us added to the membership of our block by giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. The Rugby World Cup ended victorious for South Africa with the Bokke winning the Cup again! I even sprayed my hair green for the occasion! I was so thrilled with having rugby in my life for a while again. Halloween saw Aggie and Bear being dressed up, which they hated. They had their annual photo shoot and then ripped the outfits off themselves as fast as they could.

In November a friend and I took a road trip to Grafton, IL and went to a winery and took a stroll around the area. We were looking for the leaves changing, and they didn’t disappoint! We had a lovely trip and vowed to go back again sometime. Greg and I went to see one of my favourite comedians, Kathleen Madigan, at the Steifel Theatre. We thoroughly enjoyed our night out (my birthday gift). I also got my hair permed (woot), cat-sat a gorgeous ginger monstrosity for a friend, baked a ton of cookies and celebrated with another friend in SA as she moved into her new house. Thanksgiving was spent at home, and we invited a couple of friends over to celebrate (and eat) with us! The following day Christmas threw up all over the house as I got stuck into decorating. I love Christmas so it’s never a chore. Our weather was still way too warm, so it was a little weird sitting downstairs with all the decorations and no fireplace on. Greg found a nice warm day to put the outside lights up too.

December was still way too warm with temperatures way above normal for this time of year. I went to a Christmas market in our neighbourhood, more cookies were baked and I coloured my hair. We hosted a Christmas Cheer evening with our immediate neighbour’s and had a lovely evening. My book club had a Christmas lunch and as usual we were involved in several lunches, dinners, and get-togethers of small groups. On Christmas day we had a few friends over and ate a lot and laughed a lot and had a lovely time. I ended up going with a friend to the Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Gardens which was amazing. They put up hundreds of thousands of lights at random areas of the Gardens and you’re able to walk around looking at them. Some are set to music; some are flashing, and some are just twinkly. It’s a very popular event with thousands of people going through the gardens while the event is running (several weeks). It was a great way to end the year. Greg has been cleaning out his old computer and transferring data to his new laptop, so it’s been good for him to have several days off to get it done. He had another record-breaking year of business which he’s well pleased about. He still loves what he does and he’s very good at it and his clients recognize that and support him wholeheartedly.

Tonight, being New Year’s Eve, Greg and I are planning on staying home, ordering Chinese food and binge watching something on TV. We may make it to midnight, but we’re not fussed if we don’t. We’re looking forward to a less eventful year in 2024. We have some plans for the year ahead, but our biggest wish is all our friends and family to have a happy, healthy, and less stressful year.

The Body is a Fascinating Thing

The body is an amazing thing! Love yours, or hate yours, it doesn’t change the complexity of it.

Recently I had a little potential health scare. I went for my annual 3D mammogram and a week later received a report in my patient portal telling me that nodules were found in both breasts and that further testing and ultrasounds were recommended. I panicked! A lot! My mom had breast cancer. I googled some of the verbiage in the report (don’t ever do that!) and was even more confused. The day I received the report, I’d been at my doctor for my annual physical and bloodwork too, but before receiving the report.

I called my doctor who didn’t really give me any reassurance, partly because she’s not a mind reader and can’t give me feedback without seeing the report herself and obviously she’s not going to give me false hope. She just said, “go back and get the ultrasounds and tests”. So, I called to make the appointment and could only get in 4 days later. 4. LONG. DAYS. LATER!

In the meantime, no matter what I did to try to take my mind off it my brain had total control of my body. My heart rate shot up, my blood pressure shot up, I developed stomach issues, joint aches, exhaustion, shakes, lack of sleep, total mental breakdown, emotional breakdown and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I did everything I knew to keep myself busy and quieten my mind, but my mind was having none of it.

I talked to several women about it and came to realize that many women get called back to have further testing done and each of them said that it turned out to be nothing. All I could think about was “what if its NOT nothing…?” I had no idea so many women experienced this too.

I don’t want to make light of this because I know several women who are either currently going through horrible treatment or have just finished the treatment and I’d just experienced a tiny taste of what they experienced. I’m so sorry and I pray for their total and complete healing and restoration in every area of their lives.

In the middle of this 4 day wait it was my birthday too! The last thing in the world I wanted to do was to celebrate it in any shape or form, but I sucked it up and tried to enjoy myself. Lots of bad things typically happen around my birthday: weather phenomena such as hurricanes (yes we evacuated for 2 of them around my birthdays), driving through a tropical storm in treacherous conditions to get to a wedding, illnesses/Covid, deaths, funerals etc., so being super positive wasn’t high on my list.

So, 4 days later, feeling like I had developed an ulcer, (!) a friend took me to the imaging center and came with me while I had the tests done. The mammographer and ultrasound technicians were wonderful and put me at ease and got right to the testing and sent it to the radiographer for the results and we waited for them. Turns out I have several small benign cysts that they will monitor from now on and all was fine. It took everything inside me not to burst into tears of relief.

By the time we’d walked out of the facility absolutely everything in my body that had fought against me for 4 days, immediately disappeared and returned to normal. How fascinating is the body!!! I was very much aware of it and totally focused on what was going on. I took my friend out for lunch to thank her for being there with me. I didn’t realize how much I DID need someone to be with me until it was over. I’m so used to doing everything on my own, so it was nice to have someone to share it with. That night I went to bed early and slept solidly for 10 hours! I haven’t slept that long in maybe a decade!

Oh, and just so that you know, my blood results came back good too (I was freaking out about those too).

Now to seriously learn how to relax, meditate and calm down. I’m open to suggestions on how to do that!

Memories of Sylvester

With just a little over 2 weeks to go until Daylight Savings Time kicks in and everyone goes “spring fever crazy”, I’m still sitting here amazed at how we got to this stage. I feel pretty hard done by for not having had a real winter this year. Christmas breezed by with just a couple of cold snaps, and we only had 2 small snowfalls. Lately the temperature has been above normal for this time of year and, quite frankly, I just don’t know how to dress for each day.

Our family in northern Wisconsin are dealing with a giant snowstorm that dumped well over a foot of snow on them, with below zero temperatures. This is when I get impressed by just how big a country this is. All 4 seasons in one country on the same day, depending on where you live. Here in St. Louis, we can have all 4 seasons in one day! Heck, even in one hour!

All of my bulbs are coming out and yesterday, when out on my walk, I saw a couple of daffodils in full bloom! It’s February! Go back underground, bulbs, it’s too early and you’ll freeze to death!

It’s been a rough start to 2023 for us. On January 19th we lost Sylvester to stage 3 kidney disease, although he had probably progressed to stage 4 by then. In an effort not to rehash the tragedy and save me some tears, I can only say that he was so greatly loved, and a huge part of our lives has vanished. He was our social butterfly; loved people, loved food, loved life and loved us. We will never have another cat like him. I held him in my arms as he took his last breath. No one stole stuff like he did and hid it in strange places. No one found the oddest items and played hard with it until it either broke or vanished, like he did. There is a gigantic hole in our lives right now, but Aggie and Bear are making it bearable for us. They are hurting too, so we are all good company for each other.

We were (and still are) overwhelmed by the love and support from our friends. I can’t thank the St. Louis Cat Clinic enough for their support, compassion and kindness. I had taken Sylvester to an emergency hospital for emergency treatment and that’s where we had to make the dreadful decision. The Cat Clinic knew about it before I got home and had left voicemail messages of condolence for me. When I called back, they were all crying. My vet was crying when she assured me that I’d done absolutely everything possible to keep Sylvester happy and as healthy as possible. I went there the next day to drop off and donate excess food and medicines and every single one of the staff hugged me and cried with me and shared many stories about Sylvester. I could tell that they’ve all been through this before and they just held me and let me sob. They also gave me a card that everyone had not only signed but written lovely messages about Sylvester. I will cherish this. Neighbours and friends have been so kind too, letting me blab on about Sylvester. I’ve set up a “wall of cats” opposite our front door so that Sylvester still greets us when we get home. A neighbor sent us a lovely tactile 3-D print of Sylvester with his name in Braille and a colour picture of him (which is now on the wall of cats). My phone has literally thousands of photos of all our cats, and I almost wish I could make wallpaper out of all of them.

It’s been 5 weeks since that horrible day and we are now in a better place and able to laugh about his antics and fun things. We still miss him incredibly, but the raw pain is lessening. No, he was not “only a cat”. He was our little ray of sunshine. He was 13 years and 9 months old.

Aggie and Bear are coping well without him. Aggie more than Bear. Bear seems to have taken on some of Sylvester’s nuances, and Aggie is very nonchalant about it. They are both 15 years old with their own issues but doing pretty well and giving us lots of love.

February galloped by with Greg and I celebrating that I’ve been in the USA for 19 years. I arrived on Valentine’s Day 2004. Greg sent me a beautiful bouquet of star fighter lilies. I was shocked as he never does that, and I even asked the delivery man if he had the right address! Then Greg celebrated his 61st birthday. We celebrated by going to a Board meeting, but then to Rockwell Beer Company with friends and of course, home to the giant German Chocolate Cake that I make for him every year.

Going forward, we have some house changes and updates to do, and I’m planning on holding a neighbourhood flea market – can’t wait to rid the house of stuff I’ve been hoarding for 3 years for it! For now, we’re in Lent and even though I’m not Catholic, I still believe that giving something up for a period of time is good for the body and soul. This year I’m giving up chocolate! Pray for me! Greg gave up alcohol! Pray for him! We are 3 days into it and already I’m opening random cabinets and staring at them.

One day melts into another, and for now, I’ll layer up before going out, and be down to a t-shirt when I get home, and then layer up again until the weather can make up its mind what it’s doing. It makes for an interesting laundry day.

A Look Back at 2022

Well, it is the end of another year. Every day just seems to blend into another one and the way I know it’s the end of the year is because there is an onslaught of adverts on TV for fitness equipment and weight loss solutions! I always consider attempting to exercise more and eat less, but in order to not cause myself any angst or depression when I fail (and I WILL fail), I prefer to adopt a healthy living lifestyle – at least I will try…

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I think it’s a plot generated by a very clever marketeer to get people to do or buy things that they really have no interest in. There’s a moment of brief delight when you’re able to stick to your resolution but a more lasting hatred and depression when you cheat or fail to keep it. I don’t have time for that, and why would I add to life’s already difficult issues?

Even though January 1st is the start of a new year, it’s really just the day after December 31st, a Sunday this year! Just another day full of cleaning, clearing up, cooking and routine. On the upside, for me at least, it’s winter, my absolute favourite time of the year. The craziness of Christmas is over, time to reflect and reset my thoughts and time to put aside all the sadness and chaos of 2022. I’m ready!

So, how was 2022?

In January we had quite a big vet bill because we had all 3 cats at the vet for various reasons. Weight check for Bear, dental and calcium checks for Aggie and checks on Sylvester for asthma and kidney disease (Sylvester is stage 3). I had a Covid booster, and we both got back into our routines of attending meetings, some by Zoom and some in-person.

February was Greg’s birthday – the big 60! He handled it very well and is taking 60 in his stride. In fact, I don’t think he’s ever been in such great shape and health! He is obsessed with the Apple Watch which encourages him to exercise and be healthier. He’s doing a great job. I threw him a little party and in order to keep us from any large groups, I’d asked his friends and family to send me an audio message that I could play for him. He was very touched and surprised. It was also Bear’s 14th birthday. He had a little party with us but was too scared to blow out his candle! I’ve been dealing with trying to close my dad’s estate and not getting anywhere. I finally found a great attorney in South Africa and had my first phone call with her while she totally put my mind at ease and promised to do WAY better than the bank I was dealing with. I also celebrated 18 years of being in the USA.

March was “all systems go” with dad’s estate. Our main aim was to get me appointed as executor, fire the bank and get a gazzilion documents signed and notarized and sent back to South Africa. It takes time, but I got it done. It took her a day to have me appointed as executor – considering that the bank had taken over 2 years and done nothing, this was nothing short of a miracle! I also did a lot of cat sitting for a couple of friends. It was potato planting time and I got my spuds in, a little later than normal, but they were in. Then the rain started and they kinda drowned, but sprouted so I left them alone.

April – the cat sitting continued! I had to redo all the paperwork to sell dad’s house and managed to get everything notarized for that and resubmited everything. Greg and I signed up to take part in a local “walk to Jerusalem” during Lent. Together with a bunch of people we aimed to jointly walk the equivalent of the distance to Jerusalem. It was a great incentive to get moving and we’re hoping to do it again in 2023. Sylvester ended up at the emergency vet with gastritis after stealing and partially eating a pork loin that was defrosting in the sink! I also got my hair permed! Yay, curls!! Sylvester celebrated his 13th birthday and had a little party with Bear and Aggie. We were enjoying wonderful Spring weather and the temptation to plant seeds, flowers and plants was nearly overwhelming, but I know better and I’m glad I waited.

May saw some more cat sitting for friends. It was Bear’s turn at the emergency vet due to him limping badly. He has arthritis pretty badly, but I needed to check it out as he was in pain. We had the first of our neighbourhood association’s concerts in the park – Lindenwood Live. We had perfect weather for it and a fantastic turnout. I planted most of my garden.

June: guess what? More cat sitting! Bear and Sylvester had a vet checkup and all was good. We had the house treated for termites. It was interesting to watch, because they had to drill a hole every 18” all the way around the house – difficult for them because we have concrete all the way around the house. We should be good for 10-15 years! Our area is prone to termites and I’d spotted them so we wanted to take care of it right away. We had another concert in the park and again it was well attended with perfect weather.

July, we drove up to Phelps to be with Greg’s mom who celebrated her 82nd birthday and for the 4th of July. Summer is pretty in Phelps, and she got some of her garden growing. Covid is still on our minds, so we didn’t go anywhere or mix with groups. Aggie had a calcium check up and she’s doing pretty well and has no need for any meds at this stage. With LinFest coming up and some issues with people dropping out of the committee, I got involved again. I have some contacts and experience so was able to help quite a bit. LinFest is all consuming for me, so I got stuck in again. We were able to dig up all the potatoes. Didn’t get a great crop this year – not sure why but I’m sure it was weather related. We’ll try again this year!

August was a difficult month with a couple of friends passing away and one f my cousins. All 3 cats were at the vet for various bloodwork and checkups – new medications issued and rechecks done – this will be ongoing as they are getting older (13, 14 and 15). More meetings, funerals and Aggie had her 15th birthday party! Greg and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. Where did that time go…?

September was my birthday month. Stuff always seems to happen around my birthday and this year was no different. We went to our first in-person meeting and in a moment of stupidity, did not wear a mask. BAM! Covid! It’s inevitable that we all get it at some stage. We were fully vaccinated and boosted, wore masks at every opportunity…except ONE time at a neighbourhood association meeting! We knew better but took the risk and I’m still mad at myself for not masking. It won’t happen again! I got it first, and Greg and I immediately distanced ourselves. He stayed off work and rescheduled all his clients and then 5 or 6 days later, as I was recovering, he tested positive so more client cancellations while he recovered. Just like everyone says, Covid is exhausting, and it took us a few weeks to get back to where we were. In between that, Sylvester needed to go to the vet and a friend very kindly stepped in for me and took care of that. We were very careful with the handover of the cat carrier but she didn’t get sick so we must have done it right! The timing of us getting Covid couldn’t have been worse as we were in the last week or 2 of LinFest planning. I had so much to do but couldn’t go anywhere until I was negative and then it was all systems go! I was exhausted, but it was done.

October was the time for LinFest, our neighbourhood association’s Fall Festival. I’m one of the co-chairs (again) and the day started off very early. Vendors, artisans, food and beverage vendors, musicians, kids’ entertainment all arrived mostly on time. We had a dog parade with doggies dressed up, prizes, raffles and so much fun. We had the perfect weather for a change, and it was a great success. Kudos to my co-chair, Emily, who is a fundraising monster! I was so relieved to get home and get some rest. The week after LinFest was a medical week for us. Sylvester’s bloodwork check, my 2nd shingles shot (OMG!) and my first colonoscopy prep and procedure – all went well. We both got our flu shots and Greg got his first shingles shot. Our arms are full! I dug up most of my veggies, although the weather was so good that some of them were still producing fruit. I packed away my fairy/gnome garden too – sleep tight!

November, we packed up the car and headed back up to Phelps to be with Greg’s mom for Thanksgiving. We lucked out with the weather and had a totally uneventful drive there and back. It was the first time since 2019 that we saw most of the family and it was great to reconnect and marvel at how much the nephews had changed. We have a new family baby on the way too! Thanksgiving generally consists of food, food and some more food, and this year was no different! On our last night we had a bit of excitement with the CO2 detector blasting at us, and we discovered that the gas fireplace threw a wobbly and tried to kill us! We called 911 and they sent not one, but two fire trucks to the house and used a detector to find out if there was any issue. There was, so the gas to the fireplace was switched off and we had to air out the house for half an hour. It was late and we needed to be up early to head home so we were pretty tired. New detectors were ordered (thank you Lisa – Greg’s sister) and the house is safe again. The day after we got home was “decorating day” at the Roggemanor! I, unashamedly, have a lot of Christmas decorations, and I’m not afraid to use them. It takes me the whole day and Christmas officially threw up all over the basement. I only decorate in the basement because I’m able to close the door at night and the cats can’t get down there and destroy it all. More cat sitting for a couple of friends. More vet visits!

December! Christmas! My favourite holiday. I like to recreate the Christmas story in my head and while I know that Jesus being born in a manger with the 3 wise men present and everything going according to plan is not a reality. The reality in MY mind is that there might have been a storm, the stable smelled and was filthy, Mary was in chronic pain, Joseph was freaked out by all the fluids, the wise men were late, the animals were in the way, the roof leaked etc. My experience tells me that man plans, and God laughs! Don’t get me wrong, I am a believer and I totally believe in what the Bible tells us about Jesus’ birth, but I’m sure there’s a lot not mentioned. I’d love to write a modern-day rendition of what I think might happen, but I’d be worried it would come across as sacrilegious, which is not my intention at all. We were cautiously optimistic this year and had a couple of very small gatherings at the Cheesehead Saloon at the Roggemanor. We invited a few of our neighbour’s over to help us celebrate and had a few lovely evenings catching up with them and wishing them well. Christmas Eve, we had a couple of friends over for dinner and chilled with them. Christmas Day was a lovely quiet day with just the 2 of us. We opened presents, let the cats play with the wrapping paper and just chilled out at home all day. I cooked and we stuffed ourselves and then dutifully nodded off in front the TV “watching” Christmas movies – like one does! Boxing Day is not celebrated here but since Christmas Day was on a Sunday, Monday was observed as a holiday. We ate leftovers and again, nodded off in front of the TV…! New Year’s Eve was no different. We got some snacky food together and got comfy in the basement by the fireplace and watched a couple of movies. We managed to stay awake (mostly) until midnight, guzzled down a quick glass of champers and went to bed.

And there you have it!

Looking back, it was an interesting year, full of stresses, disappointments, and frustrations, but also a time of joy, fun, laughter and relief. My dad’s house was finally sold and out of his name and my responsibility. The estate is not yet closed, but the house is done – it took over 3 years! This was a huge relief. It is incredibly difficult to try and deal with a late estate from a million miles away. Add African time to that and it’s near impossible! I’m so thankful to my attorney, realtor and most of all, my friend Clancy who is my power of attorney and gave me perfect advice and ran around all over the place to take care of business for me. I’m incredibly blessed to have friends like her and wish that on everyone. “Friendship is a responsibility, not an opportunity”.

Greg had a great year again, hitting some new records, despite having Covid and not working for about a month (quarantine, vacations etc.). He’s pretty much at capacity and still loving what he does. If only his wife could find an open slot for a booking…

Whatever you have planned in 2023 we wish you strength to accomplish it, joy while doing it and prosperity as you reap the rewards from having done it! Be blessed!

When your pet doesn’t feel well…

It’s awful when your pets aren’t feeling well, even if it is self-inflicted on their part!

Sylvester, our 13-year-old Tuxedo cat, has a penchant for mischief. Even at this stage of his life he likes to surprise us. Several days ago, I’d forgotten to take something out of the freezer for dinner, so at the 11th hour, I grabbed a small pork loin roast and threw it in some cold water in the kitchen sink to defrost. I do it fairly often (brain fogged menopause brain syndrome) and thought nothing of it and ran down to the basement to finish cleaning. When I came upstairs, I found Sylvester hunched over the pork roast, with remnants all over the floor and 2 big holes bitten in the plastic. Pork blood and tiny pieces of meat hung around his whiskers! I didn’t think too much about it because, well, this is not his first rodeo, and he had stolen frozen pork chops once before as a kitten! I cleaned it up and he still ate a nice hearty dinner later.

The next day I knew something was up with him. He only had a few licks of breakfast and was starting to vomit, mostly just liquid and phlegm. He has asthma and we’ve been monitoring his inflammation, which includes how often he throws up phlegm and I have a pretty detailed log that I keep. When he started to vomit bile, I knew it was time to contact the vet.

I emailed back and forth with his doctor who recommended a couple of medications. By this time, he’d also stopped drinking water and was looking a little shaky and miserable. I was told to withhold food from him for 24 hours and if he was still like that, take him to the emergency clinic the next day.

The next day was no better. He threw up on our bed during the night, so I got up and took him downstairs to the basement and we chilled on the couch for the rest of the night so that we could give Greg some peace. He just lay on top of me all that time and was very miserable. I tried to coax him with all his favourite foods and treats and even tried to get some water into him by using a syringe, but he was having none of it. Later, that morning he came upstairs and tried drinking some water but brought that up almost immediately. I called the vet and collected the meds, but they advised that I take him to the emergency clinic and don’t start the meds so that they can get a full picture of what’s going on.

The emergency clinic doctors only arrived at noon (yes, I know!) and we were there a little before. There are renovations going on there and no one is allowed in with their pets, so we consulted over the phone, and they came and took him from me so that he could see a doctor. The doctor examined him, and I’d given them a copy of the log I’d kept, as well as the meds I got from his vet, and she called me back and said she suspects it’s gastritis from eating the pork which was exasperated by his feline asthma symptoms. To be on the safe side she recommended taking an x-ray of his abdomen to ensure that he didn’t eat any of the plastic around the pork and that it wasn’t stuck somewhere in his tummy. Once the x-rays were completed she called me back to say there was no foreign body inside and there’s just an inflamed fold in his tummy that she says it’s fairly typical when a cat has been vomiting so much. She didn’t see any growth or obstruction, but she was going to send the x-ray to a Board-Certified Radiologist to confirm her findings. If I don’t hear from her, all is fine. I haven’t heard from her!!

She didn’t think Sylvester would be able to tolerate the oral meds at this stage, so recommended giving him an injection to stop the nausea and vomiting and an injection to stimulate his appetite and I totally agreed (one less pill to give him!). He could start the oral meds the next day. Within 15 minutes he was back in the car while I tried to be a brave girly and not cry!

I got him home and he was very happy to be back. In fact, he must have been feeling a lot better already because he went straight to the water bowl and sucked down a bunch of water. I followed him around like a hawk, making sure he didn’t throw that up, and he didn’t! Bit by bit, he returned to the feeding area and ate a little and drank more water. At dinner time he inhaled everything. I didn’t want to give him extra food, even though he hadn’t eaten for nearly 48 hours, because I didn’t want to upset his tummy, so I gave him a random treat here and there. He managed to keep it all down and there was no vomiting involved. He was perkier and getting stronger, but still not quite himself.

That night, after a bit of wailing and pacing, he finally jumped into bed with us and fell asleep. We were all exhausted and slept well. No vomiting through the night either. At breakfast time, his food bowls were empty so that was a good sign and he ate well again and was still drinking a nice amount of water. He started his meds and seeing as he loves pill pockets, it wasn’t very difficult to persuade him to take them.

Today, 4 days later, he is still a little sleepy and not quite 100%, but he is eating and drinking and doing all the cat related things. I’m just giving him some space and letting his body recover and giving his vet regular updates.

I’m incredibly grateful and thankful for everyone’s help, from the staff at his regular clinic, to the emergency clinic (who didn’t treat me like a crazy overprotective cat mom) and took everything I said very seriously. Now we will work on getting his asthma totally under control, but first he has to finish the gastritis meds and bounce back a little more.

Feel better Vestie-pestie. Your fan club is banking on it!

Sylvester making himself a comfy nest.

First Snow of 2022

I’m never so happy as I am when it snows. I love the snow! I love the quietness as it insulates the ground. There is nothing like that untouched blanket of snow on the ground and then the random tracks of rabbits and squirrels as they head out to play and forage for food.

We are fairly lucky in St. Louis to experience all 4 seasons (sometimes in 1 day – or even in one hour!). All 4 seasons have their pros and cons but for me, winter is the one I love the most. Having grown up in Johannesburg, South Africa I pretty much had near perfect weather all the time. It is located in high altitude, so we didn’t have the high humidity that we have in St. Louis, winters are short, and sunlight abounds.

January and February are favoured to be our best winter months. We will typically get an acceptable amount of snowfalls – although it’s never enough for me! This past Wednesday and Thursday we got our first decent snowfall of the season. It started with ice, then freezing rain, then sleet and then finally in the early hours of Thursday morning, it started to snow. It wasn’t the big flake, soft, fluffy snow that I was hoping for, but rather a small, gritty, dry, powdery snow – but we got a lot of it! 8” to be precise! I went out in the morning to do a preliminary shovel of the sidewalks and paths, but it was mostly ice and hard to remove, so I figured I’d wait until the snow logged a few inches and try again. It was freezing cold too!

Later in the afternoon I heard someone shoveling outside and opened from front door and my neighbour was starting to clear my front path, so I went outside to help and started to clean off my car too. There was about 3 or 4” at the time. Cleaning my car was hard work because the locks were frozen solid and I couldn’t open a door to start the car and get the defrosting in motion, so I just squirted some oil in the locks and set about de-snowing it instead. My ice scraper snapped in half from the cold so I couldn’t scrape my windows, but I got the car dug out for the most part. Again, it was freezing cold, so I went inside to take a break and prepare for round 2. Later in the afternoon the snow had mostly stopped falling and we’d got about another 4-5”. Another neighbour with a snow blower was walking up and down our sidewalks clearing the snow for us, which was a HUGE help (thank you Joe!). I worked on clearing my car again and digging it out of the driveway and shoveling a path by the side of the house from the back door to the trash bins. We have our new front porch too, which added to my shoveling, but that was fairly easy to clear.

I attempted to make a snowman but it’s the wrong type of snow. Hopefully we’ll get another decent snowfall that will be wetter, and I’ll be able to build something. I’m hoping for a snow cat!

We are 4 days post snowstorm and there’s still plenty of snow outside. We had some sun yesterday and the melting has commenced, bringing with it the slushy, dirty mess that just refreezes at night turning it to ice again in the mornings. The side roads are still a mess, and we’ve barely reached a temperature above freezing yet. The city is badly understaffed, but the Streets Dept. did their best to plow. The interstates and highways take priority, then the main arterial roads and then secondary roads. Back streets and residential roads barely get touched and they are never pretreated. Getting out of your street to a main road is terrible, but once you reach a main road, you’re usually ok. We are lucky that we have a neighbour with a plow, and he clears our block for us. In fact, he did a fantastic job late in the evening on Thursday (thank you Keith!). Very few people shovel their sidewalks so it can be treacherous for any walkers and our mail carriers. Greg walks to work, and he had a very hard time on Friday morning trying to follow the sidewalk and ended up walking in the road to get home later that day.

I have barely left the house since 2 weekends ago, and I have no need to go anywhere. I get my snow driving experience when we visit Greg’s mom at Thanksgiving in northern Wisconsin. It seems like every time I do any significant driving in snow I spin out or have an accident so I’m rather leery of driving any distance in snow or ice. We have a lot of ice packed underneath the snow. If I don’t HAVE to go anywhere, I’m not going to! I will stay home and marvel at the brilliance of the whiteness and how beautiful it is. I can walk to anywhere I need to go or get stuff delivered if necessary.

In the meantime, back to watching the squirrels and bunnies play in the snow!

Bulk Up Little Girl

Our teeny, tiny grey-haired domestic short hair cat, Aggie, who is 14 years old went to the vet on Monday for a scheduled dental cleaning. The process has been interesting!

The night before the procedure we had to remove all food access – that meant removing the other 2 cat’s food bowls too, much to their disgust. She was allowed water. In the morning I still had to feed the boys, so I sent Aggie down to the basement with Greg while I quickly took care of them. Aggie ran back up to the top step and screamed and yelled and cried to come out. When I opened the door to let her back up, Greg was sitting on the top step with her trying to calm her down and equally distraught.

We caught her quite easily and got her in the carrier and I took her to the clinic. The staff at the St. Louis Cat Clinic are so kind and compassionate and took her from me and told me the vet would call to explain the procedure. I hate leaving the vet clinic with no cat and those pesky tears pricked at the back of my eyes as I drove home.

About an hour later, Dr. Howard called me to explain what would happen. She would be under anesthetic for anywhere between 1-3 hours, and as she’s an older cat, they take great care to monitor her and if she goes into any kind of distress they will stop the procedure. Dr. Howard told me she’d call me as soon as she was finished with Aggie and let me know how things went and that she would be 2nd in line for the procedure.

I kept myself busy all day to try and keep my mind off of it. The boys barely realized she wasn’t home! At around 1pm I got a call from Dr. Howard saying that Aggie did great and that they didn’t have to do any extractions, but they did have to do a gingivectomy on one tooth where they cut back the gums that made a pocket over some nasty tarter. They also did an EKG to monitor her, which was all within normal limits, and they drew 3 lots of blood to test her calcium levels which were slightly elevated at her last visit in October. She told me that Aggie was awake and alert and I could collect her between 4-4.30pm.

The clinic is doing curbside drop off and pick up right now while trying to keep the inside as people free as possible to reduce the risk of Covid infection, so by the time I got there to collect her, there was already several cars in the lot waiting to be helped and I had to wait a while. The procedure is that when you arrive, you call the office and tell them you’re there to pick up your cat. They will go through all the at-home and post-surgery care with you and again discuss her health and then take your payment over the phone and then they will bring her outside to a collection point and give you any meds needed and then you can take her home. When I finally did get through to them the process went smoothly.

Finally I got my little Aggie back and she was very anxious to get home. She was still a little loopy from the anesthesia but had recovered enough not to hurt herself. She was starving! Ravenous in fact! She is typically not a very good eater, which is why she only weighs around 6 ½ lbs (less than 3kg), but that night she wanted all the food – like all the food in the house!! The vet said to feed her about a quarter of what she usually eats to make sure she didn’t vomit from the effects of the anesthesia, but Aggie was having none of that. I emptied half a can of food in her bowl and left the can out so that I could refill it when she was done. She bounced from her bowl to the can and back to her bowl again several times so I just emptied the rest of the food in there. She wolfed it down so I opened another can and she ate more than half of that too. We gave her some pain meds at bedtime and she slept on the bed with me all night and slept hard, but at least her tummy was full and she was home.

The day after surgery she was hurting and stayed under the bed all morning and came out about mid afternoon to eat. She didn’t sleep with us that night, which was strange and 2 days post surgery she was still under the bed all morning, but seems to be in less pain. The trauma of catching her to give her meds is worse than her pain, so I’m just giving her treats and catnip (which she inhales) and letting her come to me when she is ready. This is typical Aggie behaviour so I’m not worried. Hopefully she will perk up soon else I’ll have to send Sylvester under the bed to flush her out.

Feel better soon, my little Aggie-poo! There are leaves to watch, squirrels to glare at, brothers to hiss at and laps to sit on!

A Look Back at 2021

It’s New Year’s Eve, 2021, and I remember feeling rather uneasy about 2021 when we welcomed it in last year. I didn’t feel like 2020 was quite done with us yet. I was right. I should have warned everyone, but little good it would do us because, well, people…

It’s been a weird year. We gained and lost friends, held lots of Zoom meetings (which I actually love!), planted a garden, reaped from the garden and dug it all up again. I applied for job after job after job to no avail. I found that I was 1 in 300+ people who’d apply for the same job and it’s disheartening, so I quit doing it. I’ll get back into it again. I have other things in the pipeline too that have kept me occupied. After the Zoom era of meetings, we started to tiptoe back into the great unknown and attend a few meetings in person (I’m still not a fan). We haven’t yet been to any movies, theatres, concerts, malls, or anything like that. We have ventured to a few local restaurants, but mostly restaurants with patios. We have only been to 1 brewery in 2 years! Now you KNOW we are serious about this!

Greg’s business did very well, and he closed the year off with a record year. I’m so proud of him. He’s worked very hard and is finally reaping the benefits. He’s got all the clients he can handle right now and he’s in a good place. It took over a decade. Hopefully 2022 will continue to keep him afloat and be good to him.

The cats had a good year too. They got to have their mom at home all day, every day. They approve!! Each of them had their turn at the vet for their annual shots and checkups and bloodwork. All did very well except for weight issues. Aggie needs to gain weight (at least a pound or 2), Bear needs to lose 2-3 pounds and Sylvester needs to lose about a pound. We are working on it and have changed diets drastically, spent a fortune on a new microchip feeder for Aggie to protect her food and stop the boys from inhaling it. So far, we are having mostly success. Bear goes for his 3-month weight check up in the first week of 2022 so we will see what his vet has to say about that. We took Sylvester off his asthma meds to see how he was progressing, and he did well for about a month and then the coughing started again. So, we have him back on a tapering course of steroids and will transfer over to an inhaler as I work with getting him comfortable with it. I never tire of talking about our cats as they are great entertainers.

There has been a lot of sadness this year, more so than joy. We’ve lost friends and family (not only to Covid). I almost don’t know what to say anymore. We remained proactive and made sure that we got all the vaccinations that were available to us and I’m proud to say that we are both fully vaccinated. In addition to the Covid shots, I also had the flu shot and my 2nd pneumonia shot. My arms are full of potentially virus busting muti! I’m so tired of debating the vaccination issue, the masking issue, the inside/outside issue, and just the entire Covid issue. I just put it down to “I don’t want to get sick” so don’t judge me. This is what works for me. I don’t like having allergies/hayfever, so I certainly don’t want Covid.

I rediscovered the joy of knitting and have started to make mini penguins. I think they are cute, and they may turn into something at some stage. Knitting them is no problem. Sewing them together requires a talent I don’t possess! I truly am my mother’s daughter!

What I wish for you in 2022 is that it’s not “20-20-2”. I wish for peace, love, tolerance, patience, joy and most of all, health. It’s been a rough one for a lot of people. Please be kind to one another. There are so many who are seeing this New Year in without their loved ones or friends. It takes nothing to zip your lips and just listen instead of trying to spout off your beliefs and righteous indignation.

“May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”
–John Rutter, Celtic Blessing

Many blessings to you all!
Happy New Year!

Contemplating my 54th Birthday

Today is the day before my 54th birthday. I’m sitting outside contemplating the odd patterns that my birthday has to offer. People who’ve known me for a long time will chuckle any time my birthday approaches. September 13th is known for weird happenings in my realm. Is it me? Maybe! Some friends update me with a countdown a week or so before or send me updates of upcoming weather forecasts or scan the newspapers for weird events about to happen and wait anxiously to see what will happen.

On my birthday I’ve experienced freaky weather, both in South Africa and in whichever state in the US I’m in, I’ve driven through hurricanes, tropical storms, had weddings and funerals to attend, and been really sick. So, when it comes to my birthday, it’s just another day and I’m thankful when I don’t have to deal with any big issue.

Having passed the half century mark, although I have no idea how that happened – surely it can’t be true – I feel like I should know more, do more, have done more, be a wise old sage to the whipper snappers around me and maybe learn how to chill out a bit more. We are the masters of our own environment, caretakers, and students of the universe. Life is weird. Life is hard. Life is life (na na, na na na…. sing it with me!).

What have I learned in nearly 54 years? Well, I’ve learned to be afraid, but also to be brave. I’ve learned not to take things so seriously, but also to take things seriously. I’ve learned that sad and terrible things happen to people close to me, but I’ve also learned that we are able to rise up and face crises and defeat them (yet sometimes we fail at that, and it’s ok to fail). I’ve learned that great and happy things happen to people close to me, but I’ve also learned that instead of feeling jealous or snubbed, I can rejoice with them and help them celebrate their glory. I’ve learned that God is on my side and that He has a plan for me, even though I fall off the track all the time yet somehow, I always get back on it. I’ve learned everything, yet I’ve learned nothing.

I have several friends who celebrate their birthdays with me on September 13th and I’m curious if they also have experienced the weirdness that I think follows me. Is it a mysterious “13th” syndrome?

I’m sitting outside on the front patio listening to the trains and the nearby highway, watching the hummingbirds feed from the feeder, watching and greeting my neighbour’s as they come and go, seeing squirrels scamper around the garden and up the trees. The weather is perfect this morning, just how I like it. It will probably change tomorrow – true to form!

I remember when I was very young asking my mum in all honesty if she used to write with a feather and ink when she was in school. Let’s not dwell on her answer! Now I’m that person who can’t figure out why kids can’t tell the time on an analog clock – and when did we start referring to it as an analog clock? It was always just a clock! And yes, we had a rotary phone and we had to remember phone numbers (again, it was just a “phone”)! Nowadays I only know 2 phone numbers – mine and Greg’s! The music we used to listen to is now referred to as the “golden oldies”. So, what do we call the music my parents used to listen to? The “rusted oldies”?

It’s amazing to me that being in my 50’s seems to be sort of youngish, whereas 30 years ago 50 sounded very close to retirement! People tell me that it’s just a number. True, but it’s a big number and I’m not sure how I should feel or act as a 54-year-old. I’ve never been 54 before.

Maybe today I should cheat the universe and pretend that today is my birthday, just to see if the dynamics shift! Here’s to another 54 years of experience and learning!